London
CNN
—
It looks like the gloves are well and truly gone for the Sussexes.
The couple haven’t fared very well in the latest episodes of their tell-all docuseries, offering extraordinary insight into why they left the UK.
The episodes picked up from 2018 when Prince Harry married Meghan in Windsor. The couple recalled fond memories, such as when then Prince Charles – who Meghan described as “very charming” – stepped in to escort them down the aisle after helping with the musical arrangements ahead of the big day.
A montage of never-before-seen happy moments – Harry cutting their wedding cake with a sword, emotional toasts and Elton John serenading guests – quickly took a more serious turn. Harry and Meghan have accused the rest of the family of becoming envious of their growing popularity ahead of serious claims that damaging stories about the couple have been planted by the institution to distract from negative coverage of other royals.
With few real reveals in last week’s Netflix release, these episodes were more impactful. The picture Harry painted of the royal household was not particularly flattering. He presented a cold, compartmentalized environment, where suspicion and mistrust guide the house staff, insensitive to their experiences.
“The problem is that when someone who gets married, who should be a ‘support act’, then steals the show or does the job better than the person who was born to do it, it upsets people. It changes the balance,” Prince Harry said. Going further, he described how the palace’s various press offices “end up working against each other”.
The ensuing press attacks, the palace’s lack of action to prevent them and the couple’s growing suspicions that the royal household were in fact fueling the media have pushed Meghan into a dark place.
“All of this will stop if I’m not here. And that was the scariest thing about it, it was such a clear thought,” she recalled, elaborating on the suicidal thoughts she first raised while speaking to Oprah last year. Harry went further and blamed the constant media intrusion as a critical stressor that ultimately led to his wife’s miscarriage in 2020.
Unlike last week, this batch of episodes saw Harry and Meghan target specific family members, with the Duke recalling his brother losing his temper at a crucial Sandringham summit as they discussed the couple’s long-term future.
“It was terrifying to have my brother yelling and yelling at me, and my dad saying things that just weren’t true, and my grandma just sat there quietly and figured it all out,” said he said, remembering conversations with William, then -Prince Charles and the late Queen Elizabeth II.
“But you have to understand that from the family’s point of view, especially from your own, there are ways of doing things. And her ultimate mission and purpose, her responsibility, is the institution… she’s going to follow the advice she’s given,” Harry said.
The Duke said the ‘sadest part’ was the ‘wedge created between me and my brother’.
He added: “Part of that I get – it’s his legacy and to some extent it’s already ingrained in him that part of his responsibility is the survival and continuation of the institution.”
The latter half of this project was a forensic examination of the couple’s acrimonious split from the Windsor clan, and it was clearly presented through a Sussex lens. But Harry and Meghan’s goal was never to overthrow the monarchy. It was to speak their truth and defend themselves against the way they were portrayed in the tabloid press. That some of their remarks had a negative effect on the family was an unfortunate byproduct of speaking out.
As Harry himself says, “I always thought it was a fight worth fighting for,” even if it comes at the cost of his relationship with his father and brother.
“I had to come to terms with the fact that we’re probably never going to get real accountability or a real apology,” he said near the end of the final episode. “My wife and I are moving on, focused on what’s next.”
Ultimately, the couple blame the media for the challenges and pressures they face as senior royals. But we now understand their whole position: they also believe that the Palace could have stopped the level of vitriol they experienced, defied the media and prioritized family members over the institution.
Buckingham Palace will not respond to the allegations raised in the docuseries, with the royal household again telling CNN on Thursday that they would not comment. Instead, the Royal Family carried on with business as usual and continued with their scheduled engagements. The King and Queen consort were visiting a community kitchen in London before joining other family members at a Christmas Carol concert at Westminster Abbey hosted for the second year by the Princess of Wales.
The family has clearly chosen not to give oxygen to the docuseries. This might be their best hope of ending this very public row in the short term. But with the Sussex version of events undisputed, it will become part of the national memory.
As the second installment of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s documentary released on Netflix, Max was on hand to break it all down. Looked:
Listen to Prince Harry discuss the family dispute surrounding the departure of the royal family
The first three episodes, released last week, touched on the early days of the couple’s relationship, the relentless media attention they faced and what Harry called “unconscious bias” within the Royal Family. This latest episode saw Harry detailing the breakups with his loved ones, the toll of the past few years on the couple and their new life in California. Learn more here.
0